by Seth Lightcap. posted on December 2013

This December marks Jones Snowboard’s fourth annual Avalanche Awareness Month. We feel December is the ideal month to refresh your understanding of Avalanche and Emergency First Aid skills so you are prepared and well-practiced to make good decisions for the rest of the winter.

The first step in expanding or refreshing your avy skills is to take a professional course. Online articles and videos about avalanche education topics provide valuable supplemental knowledge but there is no substitution for taking a class. To understand how to safely study and observe the snowpack you need to spend a few days in the field with the experts.

There are more avalanche courses offered in North America this winter than ever before. If you have been interested in taking a course but never have, or have taken the Level One and have wanted to take Level Two, now is the time!

As the above video from the Utah Avy Center stresses, knowledge is power when it comes to making safe choices in the backcountry and an avy course is the best place to build this educational foundation. Once you know the facts, your experience in the field will be that much more rewarding and informative because you will know better what you see in the snowpack as you travel.